Social science. Civilizational approach to the study of history

Russian historiography has developed two conceptual approaches to the study of history: formational from the middle of the 19th century and civilizational since the beginning of the 20th century.

The adjective "formation" comes from the word "formation", which in Greek means "step". The developers of the theory of formation (hereinafter TF) were K. Marx, F. Engels, Soviet historians.

The main features of the theory of formation:

1. The entire history of mankind has been divided into five stages: primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist, communist.

2. The main criterion of each formation was the dominant mode of production of material goods.

3. This method corresponded to political, legal and ideological institutions of a certain formation.

4. Society was divided into classes: exploiters and exploited.

5. The main engine of progress was considered the development of tools of labor, the class struggle as the "locomotive of history."

Cons of formation theory:

1. TF offered only one linear (stadial) version of the development of countries: from primitive communal to communist society.

2. There were countries and nationalities that focused on improving the material mode of production (the aborigines of Australia, India, China, etc.). They had such a culture and traditions that cannot be brought to a material denominator. Their culture was based on the spiritual values ​​of harmonious coexistence with the environment.

3. The priority was the study of classes, masses.

4. Practice has shown the utopian nature of ideas about a communist society.

The methodology of the formational approach is opposed by the civilizational approach. Its essence: the history of mankind is a constant coexistence, interaction and changeability different types civilizations that go through a number of stages in their development: origin, flowering, aging, extinction.

The civilizational approach has a number of strengths.

First, its main merit lies in the “humanization” of history. Man is the beginning and end of history.

Secondly, it is applicable to the history of any country and is focused on taking into account the specifics of each of them, i.e. it is versatile.

Thirdly, the orientation towards taking into account the specifics presupposes the idea of ​​history as a multilinear and multivariate process.

Fourth, the civilizational approach does not reject unity human history, which makes it possible to widely use the comparative historical method of research: Alexander the Great - Napoleon Bonaparte, Hitler - Stalin, etc.

Fifthly, spiritual, moral and intellectual factors are of great importance for understanding the historical process: religion, culture, mentality of peoples.

Cons of the civilizational approach:

1. Amorphousness of the criteria for identifying types of civilizations: different researchers distinguish different criteria to assess civilizations.

2. Insufficiently developed conceptual apparatus.

3. Versatility as a disadvantage in the development of specific problems.

Representatives of the civilizational approach: Englishman Robert Owen, Russian historian Nikolai Danilevsky, German scientist Oswald Spengler, English historian Arnold Toynbee; Russian emigrant who lived in the United States, Pitirim Sorokin, our compatriots: Otto Latsis, professors A. I. Malkov, L. I. Semennikova and others.

The human community, from the point of view of some scientists, began 35-40 thousand years ago. Everything was the same: structure, way of life, trance culture. Now it is more diverse. There are many definitions of civilization.

Civilization is a cultural archaeological layer: shards, etc. (Robert Owen), it is an open-air museum, similar to a huge material culture (P. Sorokin), it is a form, an image of culture (O. Spengler).

One of better definitions Arnold Toynbee once gave: "Civilization is a single organism, all parts of which are interconnected and are in constant interaction."

We will adhere to the definition given by the doctor of history of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov L. And Semennikova: "Civilization is a community of people united by fundamental spiritual and material values, with stable special features in the socio-political organization, culture, economy and a psychological sense of belonging to this community."

According to modern historians who adhere to a civilizational approach, there are three types of civilization:

1. With a non-progressive form of existence (aborigines in Australia, Indians in America, Eskimos, Nanai in Russia, etc.).

2. Civilization with cyclical development, or eastern type (China, India, Iran, Iraq and others).

3. Civilization with progressive development (modern Western, American and other forms).

Let's consider the third type of civilization - with progressive development. There were, according to historians, two forms of such a civilization: ancient Greek and modern European.

The main features of Western civilization:

1. Man (not God) is put in the first place - a person individually independent of society.

2. Power and society are separated. There is civil society, and power is limited by legal norms. According to Socrates, "the best moral people should govern in a democracy."

3. The form of the political system is democracy, i.e. there is electivity, reporting, turnover.

4. There is social differentiation - classes.

5. The presence of the market as a way of functioning of the economy and its regulator leads to the emergence of private property.

A civilizational approach to the study of history can be opposed to the formational approach. This approach dates back to the 18th century. Vivid adherents of this theory are M. Weber, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee, and others. In domestic science, his supporters were K.N. Leontiev, N. Ya. Danilevsky, P.A. Sorokin. The word “civilization” comes from the Latin “civis”, which means “urban, state, civil”.

From the point of view of this approach, the main structural unit is civilization. Initially, this term meant a certain level social development... The emergence of cities, writing, statehood, social stratification of society - all these were specific signs of civilization.

In a broad concept, civilization is mainly understood as high level development of social culture. For example, in Europe, during the Enlightenment, civilization was based on the improvement of laws, science, morals, philosophy. On the other hand, civilization is perceived as the last moment in the development of the culture of any society.

Civilization as a whole public system, includes different elements which are harmonized and closely interconnected. All elements of the system include the uniqueness of civilizations. This set of features is very robust. Under the influence of some internal and external influences changes are taking place in civilization, but their basis, the inner core, remains constant. Cultural and historical types - since ancient times, established relationships that have a certain territory, as well as they have characteristic features only.

Until now, adherents of this approach are arguing about the number of civilizations. N. Ya. Danilevsky identifies 13 distinctive civilizations, A. Toynbee - 6 types, O. Spengler - 8 types.

A number of positive aspects stand out in the civilizational approach.

• - The principles of this approach can be applied to the history of a particular country, or a group of them. This methodology has its own peculiarity, in that this approach is based on the study of the history of society, taking into account the individuality of regions and countries.
• - This theory assumes that history can be viewed as a multivariate, multi-line process.
• - This approach assumes the unity and integrity of human history. Civilizations as systems can be compared with each other. As a result of this approach, you can better understand the historical processes, and fix their individuality.
• - By highlighting certain criteria for the development of civilization, one can assess the level of development of countries, regions, peoples.
• - In a civilizational approach the main role assign to human spiritual, moral and intellectual factors. Of particular importance for the assessment and characteristics of civilization are mentality, religion, culture.

The main disadvantage of the methodology of the civilizational approach is the formlessness of the criteria for identifying the types of civilization. This selection of like-minded people of this approach is based on characteristics that should be generalized, but on the other hand, would allow us to note the features inherent in many societies. In the theory of N.Ya. Danilevsky, cultural and historical types of civilization are distinguished into a combination of 4 basic elements: political, religious, socio-economic, cultural. Danilevsky believed that it was in Russia that the combination of these elements was realized.

This theory of Danilevsky pushes for the application of the principle of determinism in the form of domination. But the nature of this dominance has a subtle meaning.

Yu.K. Pletnikov was able to identify 4 civilizational types: philosophical and anthropological, general historical, technological, socio-cultural.

• 1) Philosophical and anthropological model. This type is the basis of the civilizational approach. It allows you to more clearly imagine the uncompromising difference between civilizational and formational studies of historical activity. The formational approach, which originates from the cognitive form of the individual to the social, allows us to fully understand the historical type of society. Let's counter this approach - the civilizational approach. Which is reduced from the social to the individual, the expression of which becomes the human community. Civilization appears here as the vital activity of society, depending on the state of this sociality. Orientation on the study of the human world, and the person himself, is a requirement of the civilizational approach. Thus, during the restructuring of the Western countries of Europe from the feudal to the capitalist system, the formational approach focuses on the change in property relations, the development of hired labor and manufacture. However, the civilizational approach explains this approach as a revival of the ideas of outdated cyclicality and anthropologism.
• 2) General historical model. Civilization is a special type of a particular society or their community. In accordance with the meaning of this term, the main features of civilization are civil status, statehood, urban-type settlements. In public opinion, civilization is opposed to barbarism and savagery.
• 3) Technological model. The way of development and formation of civilization is public technology reproduction and production of immediate life. Many people understand the word technology in a rather narrow sense, especially in a technical sense. But there is also a broader and deeper concept of the word technology, based on a spiritual view of life. So Toynbee drew attention to the etymology of this term that among the "tools" there are not only material, but also spiritual, worldview.
• 4) Sociocultural model. In the 20th century, there was a "interpenetration" of the terms culture and civilization. At the early stage of civilization, the concept of culture dominates. In the form of a synonym for culture, the concept of civilization is often presented, concretized through the concept of urban culture or general classification culture, its structural formations and object forms. This explanation of the relationship between culture and civilization has its limitations, and its reasons. In particular, civilization is compared not with culture as a whole, but with its rise or decline. For example, for O. Spengler, civilization is the most extreme and artificial state of culture. It carries a consequence, as the completion and outcome of culture. F. Braudel believes, on the contrary, that culture is a civilization that has not reached its social optimum, its maturity, and has not ensured its growth.

Civilization, as it was said earlier, is a special kind of society, and culture, according to the historical process, represents all kinds of society, even primitive ones. Summarizing the statements of the American sociologist S. Huntington, we can conclude that since its inception, civilization has been the broadest historical community of cultural equivalence of people.

Civilization is an external behavioral state, and culture is an internal state of a person. Therefore, the values ​​of civilization and culture sometimes do not correspond to each other. One cannot fail to notice that in a class divided society, civilization is one, although the fruits of civilization are not available to everyone.

Theories of local civilizations are based on the fact that there are separate civilizations, large historical communities that have a certain territory and their own characteristics of cultural, political, socio-economic development.

Arnold Toynbee, one of the founders of the theory of local civilizations, believed that history is not a linear process. This is the process of life and death of civilizations not interconnected with each other in different corners Earth. Toynbee singled out local and main civilizations. The main civilizations (Babylonian, Sumerian, Hellenic, Hindu, Chinese, etc.) left a pronounced mark in the history of mankind and influenced other civilizations in a secondary way. Local civilizations converge within the national framework, there are about 30 of them: Germanic, Russian, American, etc. A challenge thrown from outside civilization, Toynbee considered the main driving forces. The response to the challenge was the activity of talented, great people.

The cessation of development and the appearance of stagnation is caused by the fact that the creative minority is able to lead the inert majority, but the inert majority is able to absorb the energy of the minority. Thus, all civilizations go through stages: origin, growth, breakdown and decay, ending with the complete disappearance of civilization.

There are also some difficulties in assessing the types of civilization, when the main element of any type of civilization is mentality, mentality. Mentality is the general spiritual mood of people of any country or region, an extremely stable structure of consciousness, a multitude of socio-psychological foundations of the beliefs of an individual and society. All this determines the world outlook of a person, as well as forms the subjective world of an individual. Based on these attitudes, a person works in all spheres of life - makes history. But alas, the spiritual, moral and intellectual structures of a person have rather vague outlines. history formational civilizational society

There are also some claims to the civilizational approach associated with the interpretation of the driving forces of the historical process, the meaning and direction of the development of history.

Thus, within the framework of the civilizational approach, comprehensive schemes are created that reflect general patterns development for all civilizations.

The civilizational approach to the study of history is one of the methods that scientific minds use to clarify important questions the course of events in the historical process of different eras. This method was greatly influenced by the works of such historians as A. Toynbee, K. Jaspers, N. Ya. Danilevsky and many others.

Studying the course of historical events on a global scale makes it possible to trace and understand how diverse this process is, and how many options for the formation of society, differing not only in advantages, but also in disadvantages.

The civilizational approach exists along with the formation approach, the main difference of which is that the basis of its study is socio-economic relations, independent of the will of man. They exist due to objective circumstances. Civilizational, on the other hand, puts a person at the head of all ongoing processes, taking into account his norms of behavior, aesthetic and ethical views.

The concept of "civilization" dates back to ancient times, but in the 18th century it became a fundamental part of the historical vocabulary. It was from this time that representatives of science began to actively use it. In addition, the emergence of various theories of civilizations is also characteristic. I would like to note that the concept of "civilization" in ancient times was contrasted with another Latin concept, meaning "savagery". Already in those distant times, people saw the difference between a barbaric and civilized society and life in general.

Returning to the theories, the two main ones are stage and local. In accordance with the first, civilization is a process of development at certain stages. It can be considered its initial moment of the collapse of primitive society, as a result of which mankind passed into the stage of the civilized world. Such civilizations can be classified as primary, since they did not have the opportunity to use the civilizational traditions that developed at a later time. They created them on their own, bearing fruit for subsequent formations. The local-civilizational approach studies the historical aspects of the emergence of a community in a certain territory, which is characterized by its own socio-economic, cultural, political peculiarities... Local civilizations can exist both within the framework of a certain state, and when several states are united.

A local civilization is a system that consists of various interconnected components: political structure, economic situation, geographical position, religion and many others. All these components perfectly reflect the uniqueness of a particular civilization.

The civilizational approach, just like the stadial approach, helps under different angles look at the historical course of events. The stage-by-stage approach is characterized by consideration of the development of mankind in accordance with uniform and general laws. is based on the individuality and diversity of historical processes. Therefore, it is very difficult to say which theory is better or worse. They both have a right to exist, since they are complementary to each other, possessing their own advantages. Historical scientists have repeatedly attempted to combine both methods of study, but so far this has not happened, and it has not been developed general system that would combine both theories.

Summing up, it should be noted that the civilizational approach helps to understand the main patterns and directions of the formation and formation of world civilization, the originality of individual civilizations, and also makes it possible to compare the development processes of different civilizations.

In modern social science, there are two main approaches to the study of the historical development of society: formational and civilizational.

1. The formation approach (developed in Marxist theory) considers the historical process from the point of view of the development and change of types of production and forms of ownership.

The mode of production of material goods, according to K. Marx, determines the historical type of society, which he called a socio-economic formation.

The essence of a certain stage in history is embodied by a socio-economic formation, a type of social structure in which the basis (economic relations, primarily property relations) determines the political and legal superstructure and the forms of social consciousness associated with it. History, according to the views of Karl Marx, is a natural-historical process of replacing one socio-economic formation with another (primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist).

The mode of production is the key concept of the formational approach to the analysis of history. The mode of production of material goods, according to K. Marx, determines the historical type of society, which he called a socio-economic formation. The mode of production is the unity of the productive forces of society and production relations. With the growth of the productive forces, the old production relations begin to hinder the development of production. As a result of the inconsistency in the development of the productive forces with the level of production relations, there is a change in the specific type of society, socio-economic formation (for example, feudalism with capitalism). As a result, not only the type of production is changing, but also the whole social life.

Thus, the formational approach to history considers the historical process as a process of natural-historical replacement of one socio-economic formation by another. Theoretical basis for this, the idea of ​​the objectivity of social (first of all, production) relations, which, reproducing, are the basis for the development of various socio-economic formations as special types of social organisms (primitive communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist), served. Formations differ in the method of production of material goods, which basically determines the spiritual life of each era. According to this understanding of society, social relations based on the domination of private property give rise to antagonisms associated with the class struggle, which ultimately must end with the destruction of private property and the building of a classless society, i.e., communism.

2. The civilizational approach to history reveals broader facets of the development of society. This approach to history explores the qualitative differences in the spiritual and material culture of peoples, lifestyle and beliefs, in socio-political institutions, customs and traditions of ethnic groups, etc.

Civilization is the key concept of the civilizational approach to the analysis of history.

The term "civilization" (from Lat. Civilis - city, state, civil) appeared in the middle of the XVIII century. and was used by the French enlighteners who, using this term, characterized a society based on the principles of reason and justice. Such a society acted as an alternative to "barbarism."

Today the term "civilization" has different meanings. Most often it is understood as:

The stage of the historical development of mankind, following savagery and barbarism (L. Morgan, F. Engels);

Synonym for culture (French educators, A. Toynbee);

The level (stage) of development of a region or a separate ethnic group (in the expression "ancient civilization");

A certain stage of decline and degradation of culture (O. Spengler, N. Berdyaev);

Characteristics of the technical and technological side of society (D. Bell, A. Toffler).

The civilizational approach to the analysis of history is associated with the names of N. Ya.Danilevsky (1822-1885), O. Spengler (1880-1936), A. Toynbee (1889-1975), K. Jaspers (1883-1969) and P.A. Sorokin (1889-1968). According to their views, history is the development of diverse human civilizations.

N. Ya. Danilevsky calls them "cultural and historical types", O. Spengler - "great cultures", A. Toynbee - "local civilizations", P. Sorokin - "great cultural supersystems." These cultural and historical types, great cultures, local civilizations, large cultural supersystems determine the life and organization of society, the mentality and behavior of individuals, specific historical processes and trends. P. Sorokin believed that their study helps to understand the nature and causes of changes in human society, as well as to control and direct historical processes in the desired direction.

N. Danilevsky in the book “Russia and Europe. A look at the cultural and political relations of the Slavic world to the German-Slavic ”(1871) put forward a concept of the development of world history that was qualitatively new for its time. This was the theory of local civilizations, that is, of such cultural and historical types, in which the features of the religious and national self-consciousness of peoples belonging to one type or another are collected and generalized.

Only a few peoples were able to create great civilizations and become "cultural and historical types." N. Ya.Danilevsky has 10 such civilizations: Egyptian, Assyrian-Babylonian-Phoenician-Chaldean (or Old Semitic) Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Jewish, Greek, Roman, New Semitic (or Arabian) German-Roman (or European). Two civilizations - Mexican and Peruvian - died at an early stage of development. At the same time, the thinker emphasized that the youngest and most promising cultural and historical type is being formed - the Slavic one, which belongs to the future.

O. Spengler in the book “The Decline of Europe. Essays on the morphology of world history "following N. Ya. Danilevsky rejects the division world history into ancient, medieval and new. The “Kopernikov revolution” committed by him, in his own words, in science consists in the fact that history appears not as a single process, but as “a multitude of powerful cultures, with primitive power growing from the depths of the country that gave birth to them, to which they are strictly attached throughout its existence ”.

Culture goes through about a thousand-year cycle of development, which includes three stages: youth (mythological and symbolic culture), flourishing (metaphysical and religious culture), decline (ossified culture).

Dying, culture is reborn into civilization: this is the transition from creativity to sterility, from becoming to mechanical work. “The modern era is the era of civilization, not culture,” says Spengler.

According to Spengler, the decline of Europe as a process of the transformation of culture into civilization began in the 20th century. A "mass" person appeared, devoid of internal impulses for development. If culture creates “in depth”, then civilization - “in breadth”, the organic rhythm of development is replaced by the naked pathos of space. The policy of conquest becomes a symptom of the degeneration of culture. Technical progress, sports, politics, consumption - these are the main spheres of activity of the mass “man of civilization”. In philosophy during this period skepticism reigns, recognition of the relativity of all truths, criticism of all worldviews through clarification of their historical conditioning. The individuality of a person is entirely determined by the individuality of the cultural whole. In the era of "decline" all attempts to revive religious feelings, high art are meaningless, it is necessary to abandon attempts to reanimate the soul of culture and indulge in pure technicalism.

According to the English historian and sociologist A. Toynbee, humanity is a collection of separate civilizations. Determining for each civilization are stable types of thinking and feeling, expressed, first of all, in religion. Civilization arises as a reaction to some unique historical situation, whether it be a “response” to “external” or “internal challenges”, threats from neighbors, exhaustion natural resources... The originality of the "answers" is expressed in the ability of the creative minority (elite) to give an adequate response to the challenges of their time.

A. Toynbee has 21 civilizations in world history and gives them detailed description... The mechanism of the emergence of civilization is the interaction of challenge and response to challenge: environment constantly throws down challenges to society, and society through the creative minority responds to these challenges. The quality of responses to challenges determines the rise or fall in the development of civilization.

In his interpretation of the historical process, P. Sorokin proceeds from the understanding of social reality as a super-individual sociocultural reality, not reducible to material reality and endowed with a system of meanings, values ​​and norms. In his work "Social and Cultural Dynamics" he chooses the value factor as the most important and decisive factor in the development of mankind.

It is value that is the basis of any culture. The dominant values ​​cover the entire spiritual life of society: science, philosophy, religion, law, art, politics, economics. Depending on the dominant values, P. Sorokin distinguishes three types of culture:

1) ideational (the main ones are the values ​​of religion);

2) sensual (sensuality as a value is embodied in principle: to live "here and now", which means an orientation towards achieving sensual pleasures, pleasures of life, material success);

3) idealistic (orientation towards positive values, mainly moral, among which love stands out as a value. "Love gives rise to love, hatred gives rise to hatred," Sorokin notes. A peaceful and harmonious society is based on a relationship of love and harmony).

Sorokin introduced the concept of "energy of love", with the help of which he explored the enormous spiritual resources of love in the rallying of people and nations. It is necessary to radiate the positive energy of love and to stop the spread of the negative influence of hatred. It is this cultural approach that will foster individual creativity and collective solidarity.

In our time, the Japanese futurist F. Fukuyama put forward the concept of “the end of history” as a consequence of the departure from the historical arena of powerful ideologies and states based on them. Other researchers (for example, the American scientist S. Huntington) believe, on the contrary, that the world is now facing a bifurcation point, where the ratio of order and chaos changes dramatically and a situation of unpredictability sets in. In this regard, a conflict is predicted between civilizations existing on the planet for resources, energy, information, etc.

So, we note that the civilizational approach to history makes it possible to identify certain features, features of the life of peoples in different areas their vital functions. For example, the ancient Greek civilization was characterized by the polis organization of the life of people. In the value system of ancient civilization, the polis acted as the highest good, and the good of individuals was linked to the well-being of the whole - the polis.

Their distinctive features are also inherent in modern Western civilization: the desire for constant renewal, pragmatism, a high level of science and technology, the development of communications, the dominance of the city in the cultural life of society. There is a tendency towards the formation of a single economic, military, political and cultural space: the formation of supranational organizations, a single currency, etc.

The central problem of the civilizational approach to history is the problem of the relationship between civilization and culture. Traditionally, the concept of "civilization" was identified with the concept of "culture". However, unlike the term "civilization", the term "culture" is also applicable to the stage of savagery of human society, when people were almost completely dependent on natural nature... On the other hand, we can speak about civilization only when a person began to move from collecting to producing forms of labor, which led to the emergence of classes, the state, law, religion, and the original forms of art.

Having formed in the course of the formation of states, a civilized society continues to progress. Modern sociologists (in particular, the American historian and sociologist O. Toffler) represent the historical process as successive waves (stages): pre-industrial, industrial, post-industrial. Postindustrial civilization is characterized by extensive automation of human activity based on information technologies... Today, according to a number of scientists, humanity is moving towards the establishment on Earth of a single form of society's existence - a globalizing society.

In conclusion, we note that the formational and civilizational approaches to history were a synthesis of many ideas, concepts and theories. Both approaches have convincingly demonstrated their effectiveness. Based on them, historians have obtained significant results in the study of problems of historical development.

theory of "local civilizations") - is one of the criteria for the approach to the study of history. There are several options for a civilizational approach. 1. The concept of "civilization" coincides with the industrial stage of development. 2. Instead of the concept of "civilization", the concept of "cultural - historical type" is introduced. 3. The concept of "civilization" is the main typological unit of history. The principles and approaches to the study of history using the concept of "civilization" were developed by the English historian, philosopher and sociologist A.D. Toynbee. In his opinion, the history of mankind is a set of histories of individual local civilizations that go through the stage of emergence, growth, breakdown, decay and death. The development of civilizations is stimulated by the problems facing society ("challenge"). These can be difficult natural conditions, the development of new lands, the invasion of the enemy, social oppression, etc. Society must find a "response" to this challenge. The factors that determine civilization are: geographic habitat; farming system; social organization; religion and spiritual values; political personality; a special mentality that allows you to perceive and be aware of the world and yourself. The disadvantage of the civilizational approach is the underestimation of economic and social characteristics development of the history of individual societies.

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Civilizational approach to the study of history

It is based on the idea of ​​uniqueness social phenomena, the originality of the path traversed by individual peoples. From this point of view, the historical process is a change in a number of civilizations that existed at different times in different regions planet and simultaneously existing at the present time. Today, more than 100 variants of the interpretation of the word "civilization" are known. From the Marxist-Leninist, long time prevailing point of view - this is the stage of historical development following savagery, barbarism. Today, researchers are inclined to believe that civilization is a qualitative specificity (originality of spiritual, material, social life) of a particular group of countries, peoples at a certain stage of development. "Civilization is a combination of spiritual, material and moral means with which this community equips its member in his opposition to the outside world." (M. Barg)

Any civilization is characterized by a specific social production technology and, to no less extent, by a culture corresponding to it. It is characterized by a certain philosophy, socially significant values, a generalized image of the world, a specific way of life with its own special life principle, the basis of which is the spirit of the people, its morality, conviction, which determine a certain attitude towards people and towards themselves. This main life principle unites people in a given civilization, ensures unity for a long period of history.

Thus, the civilizational approach provides answers to many questions. Together with the elements of the formation doctrine (about the development of mankind along the ascending line, the doctrine of class struggle, but not as an all-encompassing form of development, the primacy of economics over politics), it allows you to build a holistic historical picture.

In the XX century. the work of A. Toynbee (1889-1975) "Comprehension of history" was and remains a major work exploring the civilizational approach to the study of history. As a result of the analysis of numerous historical facts he concludes that there were 21 civilizations. A. Toynbee analyzes the genesis and decline of civilizations. The concept of civilization, in his opinion, is based on two main pillars: civilization is a set of people with in a characteristic way production, firstly, and a kind of moral- (spiritually) -cultural-religious-ethnic aspect, and secondly. These two pillars are of equal size. It is this equalness in the definition of civilization that provides the key to understanding many difficult problems(for example, national question).